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**It took newly sworn Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue only a few days to take his show on the road.

Perdue’s first official visit as Secretary was to Kansas City last week where he met with the Department of Agriculture’s Beacon Facility, where he said he puts trade at the top of his agenda.

President Trump backed off intentions to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, choosing instead to renegotiate with Canada and Mexico. Perdue says Trump’s main NAFTA concerns are with manufacturing, but agriculture could also stand to benefit.

**The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has put a hold on litigation over the Clean Power Plan while it considers whether to send the matter back to the EPA.

The court, which had been expected to issue a decision soon, instead suspended proceedings for 60 days and ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs by May 15th on whether to remand the matter to EPA.

**President Trump is proposing to slash the tax rate for owner-operated businesses and corporations to 15 percent, a rate cut that could potentially benefit farms.

The president's plan also would eliminate the estate tax, which would raise revenue to offset tax rate cuts, and could increase the cost of imported products, including many farm inputs.

The president also wants to limit the capital gains tax at 20 percent and shrink the number of personal income tax brackets from seven to three: 10, 25 and 35 percent.